Have you ever contributed items for inclusion in a time capsule or been in attendance when one is placed or opened?  If not, have you watched or read stories about the discovery or planned exhumation of a time capsule on an anniversary date or at the expiration of a specified interval?   What most intrigued or inspired you about the experience?  What sparked your curiosity or fueled your imagination?

As everyone knows, a time capsule cannot be swallowed and does not contain any time. It is simply a durable container into which artifacts are inserted to be protected for some duration or until some defined milestone event.  The purpose is to preserve selected items for examination by those who will one day earn or be granted the right to inspect them.

The objective is to communicate something about the present (which will of course, be in the past when the contents of the capsule are eventually disgorged).  Those who seal the vault unconsciously picture those who will open it as inhabiting the future, when in fact, they will be living in their present, just as we all do.

Human beings as a rule are fascinated by the time ahead and eager to know what will happen tomorrow.  This is, after all, what keeps a whole cottage industry employed, from corporate “futurists” to freelance fortune tellers.  If there are “unique visions” to be shared, celebrity dreams to be interpreted, or shocking new predictions to be made, the best-selling books, the podcast interviews and the talk show circuit cannot be far behind.

Time capsules do not have the same allure, but come close enough to arouse most people’s interest.  The capsule is a way to project oneself into the hereafter in some way, by transporting a cache of tangible objects on ahead, mementos intended to remain untouched and unseen, inviolate until the designated moment for their unveiling.

The things included in a time capsule are typically chosen with careful deliberation—due in part to limited space and the need to avoid introducing elements that may accelerate the deterioration of the whole.  Great care is also required because the nature of the items, their look and “feel,” and even their very significance are inter-related. As communications guru Marshall McLuhan famously observed, “the medium is the message.”  

The artifacts entrusted to the future are rife with meaning and are usually tied to a theme, which may be broadly representative of a particular era or related to a specific person, place or event, like the erection of a statue, the founding of a town or the dedication of a special building.  The contents of time capsules may be whimsical or serious and often, what was left out says as much as what was put in.

Now suppose that a time capsule were given you to fill.  The theme is your life on earth.  What is the story that the contents will tell?  What will you choose to omit?

Where should the record you are making for posterity begin—with your ancestors? With your birth, perhaps?  Or will it be with the occurrence of some other event, such as the day you finished grad school or first met your spouse?  Will you fill the space inside your capsule with traffic tickets, failing grades, rejection letters, and your most embarrassing moments?  Or will you stick to highlight reels of your prowess in sports, academia or business?

Will you skip over your awkward and unsuccessful years, to allow enough room for your plaques, trophies and awards?  Will you fold in some cash, tuck in a photo of your house, ticket stubs from your best vacation, the last monthly statement from your investment portfolio, maybe the spare keys to your car?

Will you include a note, explaining that none of the things that went wrong was your fault, not really?  Will you compare yourself with others and judge your overall performance as better than most (of humanity’s worst)?  Will you point out that by your count, you have done more good deeds than bad?  Will you close the lid, write on it, “I was a good person, if I do say so myself,” hermetically seal the capsule and lower it into the ground, to await the judgment?  Will you walk away smiling, firmly convinced that God is certain to agree with your verdict?

Or would you like to have the capsule back, break the air lock, empty it out and try again?  What if instead of cramming in a lot of worthless junk, you begin by focusing on all that Jesus Christ has done, is doing, and will yet do for you?  Why not start with your personal testimony of how you came to know Jesus, to truly understand your sinful condition and your powerlessness to save yourself?

Explain how Jesus, who didn’t deserve God’s wrath and punishment, paid the full penalty for you.  Tell how you heard the gospel, the good news that Jesus suffered and died for your sins, that He was buried, but God raised Him again on the third day, just as the Scriptures foretold.  [Jesus’ burial place was like a time capsule, with the shortest dormancy on record—OPEN ON THE THIRD DAY AFTER SEALING.]

Share how you repented of your sins and accepted God’s forgiveness.  How that by faith, you received the pardon Jesus died to give you and the righteousness that God then chalked up to your account.  Relate how you confessed Jesus as your Savior and Lord, and how pleased you are to live for and serve Him.  Don’t forget to mention that you now trust in God to deliver you from death and hell, and that anyone who repents of their sin and calls on the name of the Lord, just as you did, can also inherit God’s gift of eternal life.

You can help and encourage them by including a short, simple guide like this one:

HOW TO BE SAVED:

• Admit to God that you are a sinner (that you have not kept His moral law to perfection; in your thoughts, words and actions you have done what His law forbids and have failed to do what His love demands).  This is seeing yourself from God’s point of view and agreeing that He is right about you. Be as specific as you can.
• Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised Him from the dead.
• Sincerely repent (turn away) from your sins, asking God to forgive you and to use His power to help you resist temptation, no matter how strong the pull of sin may be, at first.
• Acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of your life.  Invite Him to move into your heart and take up residence there, so that He can change you from the inside out.
• Trust His promise to save you and give you a new spiritual birth and a new nature (thoughts, desires, priorities, hopes, dreams and character).

You might also put in a Bible, with passages on salvation and its assurance highlighted or a list, like this one:

•  “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23)
• “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10)
• “For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23)
• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)
• “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8)
• “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”  (I Corinthians 15:3,4)
• “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)
• “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him…”  (Revelation 3:20)
• “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  (Romans 10:13)
• “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”  (Romans 10:9)
• “Verily, verily, I say unto you; He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life; and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”  (John 5:24)
• “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name.”  (John 20:31)

What else could you put in your capsule?  How about a prayer that anyone who finds it will trace the steps you took and follow the breadcrumbs you left?  What about pictures (if any) of significant milestones on your faith journey: maybe a photo of the person(s) who first talked to you about Jesus; perhaps a snapshot of your baptism; possibly a shot of your confirmation or public profession of faith; or of special moments as you ministered to others? The options are many and varied.  The point is that you tell the story, not how you tell the story.  It’s a story worth telling and worth listening to (unlike the original, godless version).

What should you leave out of your virtual time capsule?   Anything that boasts of your own actions or worthiness, makes excuses for sin, or dodges accountability to God.  These contaminants just corrupt the rest, leading to rapid decay and spoilage. Choose wisely, and watch how you pack.